LOUISVILLE – There’s been a lot of discussion about the role white evangelical Christians played in the 2016 presidential election. And what’s on a lot of people’s minds now is: What’s likely for 2020? Robert P. Jones, a religion researcher who’s the founder and chief executive officer of the nonpartisan Public Religion Research Institute, is winner of the 2019 Grawemeyer Award in Religion for his book “The End Of White Christian America,” published in 2016. On April 9, Jones spoke at Louisville Presbyterian Theological Seminary about the trajectory he has chronicled of the declining influence of white Protestants in American public life. What the research shows are demographic and opinion trends that are likely to produce real shifts in the nation’s political life – if not immediately, then in the not-too-distant future. In his book, Jones wrote this: “White Christian America had its golden age in the 1950s, after the hardships and victories of World War II and before the … [Read more...]

On April 1, an invitation went out: for Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) congregations and mid councils to declare themselves to be Matthew 25 churches. In doing that, they commit to working on at least one of the three emphases of the Presbyterian Mission Agency: building congregational vitality, dismantling structural racism and ending systemic poverty. Diane Moffett, president and executive director of the Presbyterian Mission Agency, spoke with the Outlook’snational reporter, Leslie Scanlon, about her hopes for the Matthew 25 vision. Here’s an edited version of that conversation. What does accepting this invitation mean for a congregation or presbytery? If they accept the invitation, what are they agreeing to do? “I see it as a vision, to be a church that is committed to active engagement in the world.” Some churches and mid councils are already doing Matthew 25 work, and “it’s important for our denomination to know – this is ground up,” Moffett said. The General Assembly … [Read more...]